Garrison Hill Tower stands 76 feet tall atop
Garrison Hill which is 298 feet high. Three towers have stood in this spot. The
first, a wooden tower built in 1880 burned in 1911. Abby Sawyer commissioned
the next tower, made of steel, in 1913 to honor her husband. It was taken down
in 1990 as it was no longer safe. A third tower was raised through the efforts
of volunteers and once again provides unparalleled views from the White
Mountains to the Isles of Shoals.

By 1880, the top of Garrison Hill was
jointly owned by Joseph Ham and a young entrepreneur who was cashier at the
Cocheco National Bank, Harrison Haley. Haley built, for $1000, a wooden
observatory 65 feet high, designed by architect B.D. Stewart, and modeled on a
similar structure at Coney Island. Known as “Haley’s and Ham’s Outlook”, the
tower was five stories high with a mansard rood and open balconies on every
floor. A 10 cent admission was charged to climb to the top where Haley had
installed a telescope through which the public could see Mount Washington,
ninety miles away. Over 6000 tickets were sold the first year. The observatory
also had a small 25 square foot restaurant in the base where light lunches and
cold drinks could be purchased. The top of the hill was landscaped with hiking
trails and a six acre picnic grove and a roller skating rink with removable
sides. Young Dover men came in droves to play in the roller hockey league games
at the rink. Haley also had plans to install a 102 foot high toboggan run that
would extend 2000-3000 feet down the hill, but this project never materialized.

In 1882, Harrison Haley incorporated
the Dover Horse Railroad Company with $20,000 borrowed from local investors.
Four cars, two open-air and two closed, were teamed with fourteen horses to
carry passengers along a 2.39 mile route from Sawyer’s Bridge to Garrison Hill,
Each car could carry from 26-30 passengers who road on 110 tons of wrought iron
rails. Trolleys ran every thirty minutes and the fare was six cents. Over 5000
tickets were sold each week.

In 1888, Haley sold out his shares
of the railroad and Mrs. Mary Edna Hill Gray Dow became president. She
immediately made national news as the first woman president of a railway
company.
From the1986 Heritage Walking Tour
booklet

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